Qatar Grand Prix – Oscar Piastri winner of the sprint race, Verstappen champion, Perez out

On a dusty track, the sprint race – for once – lived up to its promises. Two safety cars, on-track action, and a wide track allowing interesting defensive trajectories. The drivers are not supposed to stop during this 19-lap sprint race, however, some doubts had been raised because of the problems encountered with Pirelli tires, weakened after 20 laps in light of the initial tests.

The 20 drivers have thus chosen different tires. If Piastri, Norris and Verstappen have opted for the mediums, Russell and the Ferraris have opted for the softs. Tire differences that will impact the start and especially the last laps, to the benefit of drivers equipped with medium tires.

A clean start, despite a dirty track

Initially, the dust does not help the right side to get off the mark. Lando Norris, second, actually suffers the consequences but Max Verstappen (even though he is on the clean side of the track) too. At the first bend, Oscar Piastri, starting from pole position, retains the lead in this sprint race, while behind 4 cars are abreast: Verstappen, Norris, Russell, and Sainz.

The two Ferrari drivers notably offered a beautiful defensive maneuver from Sainz on Leclerc. The Scuderia drivers are 3 and 4.

Behind, the drivers take a beautiful flight and at turn 2 Liam Lawson loses the rear of his AlphaTauri and finds himself in the gravel trap in a spin. Blocked, he forces the safety car to come in. Each lap under the safety car is deducted from the 19 laps that this sprint race counts.

The safety car stays out for only two laps and re-launches the drivers for two beautiful battles.

Battle between Norris and Alonso

Upon the restart of the safety car, Norris in 6th position after having a bad start, defends his position on Alonso. The two men engage in a very beautiful battle over several turns but Norris finally manages to maintain his position. The battle even benefited Esteban Ocon on the Alpine who manages to overtake Alonso.

Russell takes the lead

At the same time, George Russell, who is in second place, overtakes Oscar Piastri. Piastri does not insist and Russell takes the lead of the race just before the entrance of a second safety car. Russell started on soft tires and therefore logically, has more grip, at the start of this sprint race.

Sargeant out and 2nd Safety car

Once the first safety car came in, Logan Sargeant also spun out on the track with his Williams. Therefore the safety car resumes on track. Entered at lap 4, this safety car releases the drivers at lap 7. The stewards have been rather quick to remove the single-seaters from the gravel traps.

On the restart, Oscar Piastri is totally outdone by Russell and the Mercedes. The English driver takes the lead and Piastri is threatened by Sainz, in the Ferrari. He manages to defend his second position well. Alonso also takes the slipstream on Ocon and takes back his 7th place from the Alpine driver.

Max Verstappen thus begins his comeback. Initially 3rd on the grid, he manages to overtake Leclerc and Sainz on lap 10 to reclaim this third place.

New change of leader

Starting from the 10th lap of the race, the soft tires suffer more than the mediums. Oscar Piastri takes advantage of this by once again taking the lead in the race. He overtakes Russell, helpless in the DRS game. The Mercedes driver even wants to return to the pit, seeing his tires really degrade.

Big crash of Oscon/Hülkenberg/Perez

In round 11, the safety car returns to the track again. Ocon is struggling with his soft tires. He goes wide and Hülkenberg takes the opportunity to sneak in on the right of the Alpine. Perez, behind the two men also takes advantage to shift to the right. Ocon then pulls back to his right to protect his position and he sandwiches Hülkenberg’s Haas between him and Perez’s Red Bull. The three men retire and Perez, out, therefore lets any chance of a title slip if Verstappen manages to score at least three points in this sprint race.

On the restart at lap 15, Verstappen takes the lead with medium tires on Russell’s Mercedes in turn. The Red Bull driver moves up to second place and is 2 seconds behind Piastri. He will not be able to catch up with the McLaren which wins the sprint race.

The end of the race was favorable for drivers equipped with medium tires. Hamilton took this opportunity to move up from 11th place to 5th in just two laps, overtaking Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

The ranking at the finish of the sprint race of the Qatar 2023 F1 Grand Prix